MLC Income Protection – Special Risk

If you work in a dangerous or hazardous occupation, you may be finding it difficult to gain cover for income protection.

MLC Income Protection Special Risk offers income protection cover for those people who work in particularly hazardous occupations – including police officers and armed security guards.

While many insurers may not offer coverage at all for people who work in hazardous or dangerous occupations, MLC provides flexibility to those who do and wish to take out an income protection policy.

Policy information:

Waiting Period:

30 Days

90 Days

Benefit Period:

Two years

Five Years

Expiry Age:

65

Select occupations covered:

Armoured car driver

Baggage handler

Security staff

Blacksmith

Bulldozer operator

Licensed builder

Farm manager

Firefighter – airport, country, forestry, metropolitan

Landscape gardener

Handyman

Bartender

Mining labourer, trades assistant

Painter

Police officer

Scaffolder

Security guard

For a full list of occupations please speak to one of our advisers or consult the PDS.

Russell Cain of Income Protection Direct said while it was a challenge to get income protection cover for people who worked in hazardous occupations, as Income Protection Direct has access to over 12 Life Insurance providers, they often managed to find an equitable solution for their clients.

“While challenges certainly do exist for people who work in particularly dangerous occupations, they must never assume they cannot get cover. We always go through a comprehensive process with life insurance companies, and work very closely with them, in order to try and get a client a policy,” Mr Cain said.

“Generally each application will be dealt with on a case by case basis by the insurance companies and we will always strive to work with our clients and our insurance partners to find an equitable solution.”

In one notable case in NSW, the widow of a rescue paramedic who died while attempting a rescue of an injured canyonyer in 2011 is lobbying the government to help make it easier for other rescue paramedics to get cover for life insurance and income protection.

While cover may be available through certain providers, often it was expensive, had exclusions put in place or in some cases, cover was not available at all.

Kellie Wilson, the wife of Richard Wilson who was killed in the rescue in 2011, is lobbying the NSW government, along with the NSW Health Services Union, to make sure that families of special rescue paramedics are not placed in a financially difficult position.

“We are launching a campaign in the industrial court in the hope of achieving for our members parity with other workers on a helicopter in having income protection and life insurance as part of their working conditions,” Gerrard Hayes, NSW secretary of the Health Services Union said.

If anyone is experiencing difficulty in gaining an Income Protection policy or any other type of Life cover because they work in a dangerous or hazardous occupation or they participate in a dangerous pastime such as sky diving, Mr Cain urges them to speak with one of the consultants at Income Protection Direct who can help them through the process.